1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephone apparatus in general, and more particularly to message recording equipment to be used in conjunction therewith, and still more particularly to limited range transmission of signals for broadcast on a nearby radio receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are already known various constructions of telephone apparatus, among them, besides the traditional wall-mounted, desk or nightstand units, the so-called cordless telephones that include a base unit and a handset unit that communicate with one another by limited range broadcasting, and the so-called cellular telephones that communicate either with a remote central base unit or directly with an overhead satellite.
Regardless of the construction of the telephone apparatus, though, there is often a pronounced need to create a memorandum of, for instance, a name and telephone number of a caller, a time and place of an event to attend, or the like, either while a particular telephone conversation is in progress, or immediately after its conclusion or, generally speaking, at any time. Traditionally, this was accomplished by having a notepad and a writing utensil handy close to the telephone. However, there is a tendency for one or the other, or both, of such items to disappear from its intended location just before a particularly important or crucial piece of information is to be jotted down, so that the telephone user has to interrupt the conversation and try to locate the missing item or a replacement for it.
A similar problem also exists when a more recent development in the information recording field, a so-called voice message recorder, is to be used instead of the paper-and-pencil duo. More particularly, message recorders of this type, which are designed to record a number of relatively short messages on digital data storage chips, are relatively small units that are easily misplaced or covered up by other items that may be present at the vicinity of the telephone apparatus, so that the telephone users again have to go to look for them, or fumble through papers and the like trying to locate them, sometimes in a futile effort, before being able to use them. Moreover, as a result of the miniature size and the resulting easy portability of such voice message recording units, it is highly likely that they will be transported to a location distant from its originally intended one, like to a different telephone apparatus or practically anywhere within the apartment or home, leaving the next potential user of the recording unit at a loss where to even start looking for the recording unit.
Telephones are finding increased usage in automobiles. Safety concerns dictate that drivers not be distracted by having to manually jot messages down on paper, or to hold a cellular telephone in one's hand while driving. Being able to record messages by voice alone, and being able to listen to recorded messages and to the voice of the other party on the telephone call without or with minor manual intervention, reduce the risk of automobile accidents.